Wardrobe Crisis!

So it's getting to be June, and I have two major events coming that require something more in the way of wardrobe than my usual jeans and t-shirt (or jeans and sweatshirt). And thus we arrive at one of the downsides of being self-employed and working at home.

The only time I usually dress up is at a writers' conference. I'm not going to any conferences this year (that's a blog for another day), and I didn't go last year, so my "dressy" attire is, shall we say, dated and/or non-existent.

I also, unlike many women, hate shopping. I don't mind spending money. It's the wandering around, trying on, trying to figure out if a garment looks good or not, the fit, the style...oh, my aching head!

Fortunately, last week I found a very nice designer jacket (tan with cream flowers) at an even nicer discount price. I already have another nice jacket (navy with silver embroidery), and a nice pair of navy trousers that I can wear with it. So all I needed was a simple top in navy in a dressy fabric, or a top and skirt or pants in cream for the other. How hard could it be, especially if I went to a Huge Mall?

Turned out to be, basically, impossible.

On Friday afternoon, I traipsed from one end of the Huge Mall to the other and back again.

And I found nothing.

This year, it seems everything is either white, black or black and white.

Or chocolate brown, which I think is too dark for summer and wouldn't go with the tan and cream jacket.

Or apple green, which makes me look like I'm seriously sea sick. And wouldn't go with either jacket, either.

And then there's the fabrics. Are women suddenly finding joy in ironing? What is with the cotton? Sheesh -- it's an hour's car ride to the wedding. I don't want to de-car looking like I've spent the night sleeping in my ensemble.

I also think I'm a little too, ahem, mature for the deep V with spaghetti straps look. I'd feel like Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Next stop, rouged cheeks.

So today, I went to the fabric store. Back in the days before I sold my first book, I did a LOT of sewing. But since I sold? Not so much. There's only so much time in the day. And now my trusty Singer Genie isn't in the best of shape.

But surely, oh, surely, I can make a simple skirt to go with the designer jacket. And a couple of plain tops, with no button holes required. I found some fabric -- on sale, too! Got some new needles and pins, too. My extravagance knew no bounds. And yet the cost for two tops, a skirt and a pair of pants, the patterns and extras? Seventy dollars.

Just in case the tops don't work out, though, I went to good ol' L.L.Bean and ordered a bunch of tops in their pima cotton. I know they'll fit because I have several already, just not in cream or navy. I should soon.

So hopefully, I shall have something to wear to the wedding and my daughter's graduation.

Although alas! I may be going barefoot, because I have yet to shop for shoes.